During the coking of hard coal, the coking coal is typically poured into the coke oven chamber through charging holes in the chamber roof. With this so-called top charging, cones of repose form underneath the charging holes, which must be leveled off by a leveling device to fully utilize the chamber area and leave a free exhaustion space for the charging gases underneath the chamber roof.
The leveling apparatus has a leveler bar, which can be inserted into the oven chamber from the outside through a so-called leveler door opening and which is typically mounted on the coke pusher machine, hereinafter referred to as pusher. This pusher can be moved along the coke oven battery from one coke oven chamber to the next so that the ram can push the carbonized coke cake out of the oven chamber toward the opposite coke oven side and the leveling apparatus can subsequently level the coking coal when the coke oven chamber is recharged. Furthermore, the pusher is provided with actuating devices for opening and closing or locking the coke oven chamber doors located on the machine side and the leveler doors closing the leveler door opening.
DE 33 40 067 C2 discloses a sealing device for a leveler door opening provided with a housing that can be connected to the leveler opening to form a seal. A delivery tube branches off from the housing to an adjacent coke oven chamber.
DE-AS 11 27 868 discloses a device to prevent the emission of charging gases through the leveler opening, which is provided with a tube enclosing the leveler bar whose length is approximately equal to the distance between two adjacent cross bars of the leveler bar.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,268,316 describes sealing sheet metal plates, which seal the gap between the leveler door opening and the leveler bar during the leveling operation.
From DE 23 64 458 C3 it is known to connect a housing, through which the leveler bar is guided, to the leveler door opening so as to form a seal. This housing is connected to both a forced draught fan and an exhaust fan. The forced draught fan is used to blow air through nozzles in the direction of the leveler door opening where it is exhausted by the exhaust fan. Suction may be adjusted by means of a restrictor so as to create an air seal in the housing outside the leveler door opening, which is to prevent gases and flames from exiting through the leveler door opening. In this manner, a closed area is to be created in front of the leveler door opening where pressure builds up corresponding to the pressure in the coke oven chamber so that there is no noticeable pressure difference between the coke oven chamber and the space in front of the leveler door opening. This device basically prevents the emission of charging gases through the leveler door opening. However, a complex apparatus is required. Suction adjustment by means of a restrictor is relatively inexact such that under certain circumstances air may be blown into the coke oven chamber or charging gases may be sucked out of the coke oven chamber.
In view of the problems associated with prior art leveler door openings, there is a need for a leveler door opening that can inhibit or prevent the emission of charging gases through the leveling door opening.